I love my Magicshine, I recently had to change the connectors for it.
Having said that, I would like to get a dynamo LED light to run as a back up or when I am going to be riding longer than my battery allows for.

Interesting, that's also my exact setup. I will say that the flashlight has given me a little trouble; the switch got a bit loose and I had to use a pin spanner to tighten it. When it was loose it was cutting out when I hit bumps.

The other issue for the OP to realize is that the runtime on a flashlight will mean that with a 30 mile run, he is going to have to stop and change batteries at least once every ride even in medium brightness mode. With the MagicShine you will easily be able to go the whole ride, maybe even two days (especially if you can do the route on medium mode), on a charge.

It's only an hour one way, so the tactical seems like a good start - though I like the idea of buying one made here in Plano.

OH, sorry, I read that as 30 miles one way, not round trip. Yeah, I'd go for the flashlight.

I bought the MagicShine before I'd tried a flashlight. Now that I have it it's nice to have, but if I lost everything and started over, I'd just go for the flashlight.

Actually I'd probably go for two, one in the bag, just because I think it's always necessary to have at least some backup lighting. Maybe if I couldn't afford it right away I'd hold off, but eventually I'd pick up a spare.

However, I do believe in a really damned powerful taillight. I have a Dinotte now, but for the price of that I could get the Magicshine head AND tail light. It's possible that a Radbot would keep me happy though, they look impressive but I haven't tried one yet.

I must have jinxed myself.

Friday on the way to work the screw that keeps the bracket attached to the light head came loose and the light fell off. Luckily it didn't get down in the wheel and I was able to stop and remove it. It worked fine on the way home. Today, the battery died. It refuses to hold a charge. Sigh.

Note that MagicShine has a new light out. Looks like the same head, basically, but a new battery with a built in voltmeter / gauge and looks totally waterproof (enclosed in a solid plastic case)

My Tactical doubles as an EDC and bike light, it's built tough, waterproof, and stays on without flickering or changing modes over bumps-

Run-time on Turbo (max~200+ lumens) on re-chargeable batteries is over an hour-

I use the Blaze primarily to be-seen and strobe, and to save the battery charge on the Tactical for when I really need it-

http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/o...ba9191/pb1.jpg

I have had good luck with the mi-newt mini. Li-ion and very light weight. They are about $ 80 each and I have one on the bars and one on the helmet.

Good points, but it only takes a few seconds to swap out a battery. I still think that in the end the best bang for the buck is the P7...because it can also be used for its intended purpose...as a flashlight. ;)

Better yet, get both, like us. :D

It is quick, but it's a pain in the ass to change a battery when you can't see your hand in front of your face. I guess if you added a small helmet light to the mix that you could flip on to see what you were doing, it wouldn't be bad.

Holy crap, I knew that state up north was hell, but I didn't know it was that darned dark! :eek:

I have a P7 light, and while it's bright as heck, I don't like it on the bike at all. It's a big, chunky flashlight, and mine tends to bounce around a fair amount because of its size. It also suffers from occasional spontaneous mode-changing on the bumps, which is problematic as well. I likely may have gotten a not-so-good one from DX, but the quality control there is really spotty, especially for long-term use items subjected to elements and conditions.

My Fenix and Terralux LEDs have been bulletproof though and have been my go-to lights for 2 years now. Cheap, light, the FASTEST on/off your bike you can get, and you can easily carry backups.

I'll likely upgradeto the MS soon, but even then, I will continue carrying and likely using the Fenix as a backup or helmet-mount because it's so good.

I was looking for a similar setup recently, as I have to ride about 14 miles on city streets that are pretty dark in places at night. After reading for a while on here, I pulled the trigger on a Magicshine 900 from Geoman. I'm probably going to pick up one of those tactical flashlights as backup for when I need to change a tire or perform any other type of maintenance, as well as have a backup.

I know they are more expensive but I really like my Light & Motion Stella 120. Very small, battery straps to my stem and light has a quick strap for around the bar. Plenty bright for pitch black country roads and the flash mode grabs your attention in town.

Was at Target yesterday and found this and others like it. Hadn't seen those before at Target. Not nearly as cheap as DX, but maybe of better quality (????)

I have a Stella 180 - the Magicshine is much brighter, even on medium.

Here is my DX setup, my commute is an hour and 15 min without a battery change although I do carry charged spares.
Never had a problem with it changing modes on its own .



http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15342
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.35036

Good as the MS is, using it with a helmet mounted light makes it even better. I use a Terralux on the helmet on high, the MS on the bar on medium, and the L2D on the bars either on turbo or strobe. The 2 on the bars give me a wider illuminated area, and when I use the L2D on strobe with the MS it attracts enough attention that people have actually stopped while trying to figure out what they looking at.

Cygolite Expilion 250, no external battery back, long battery run time, 250 lumens...very bright, 130 grams, self contained rechargeable LiIon battery. I have one and it's the best lights I could have purchased for $119 at Harris Cyclery. This replaces the cheaply made Magicshine that broke about 8 months when the switch failed and the company would do nothing about it, and I know others who had problems with theirs.

Has anyone tried the new Light & Motion Stella 300? It's quite a bit more expensive than Magicshine and other options, but L&M stuff is very high quality and I like the simplicity of the Stella lights. I've got a Magicshine but never use on the highest setting, so I'm figuring the Stella 300 on high would be about the same as the MS on medium.

You guys are probably talking about higher end lights but I swear by my dual set of Cateye EL-320's. Both are mounted under my bars and I keep one on a steady beam to see with and the other flashing to be seen with. When the traffic dies down closer to south philly i put them both on a steady beam for the not so well lit parts. I think having people see 2 lights in their rear view helps as well rather than just one.

Now I get that you're conditions are far different than my commute but on training rides of 40+ miles or more I do the exact same thing and have never had a problem. The lights give off a great light and I feel very confident when I'm riding through the busy sections. Just my 2 cents.

Caveman, perhaps you missed this is roadie and if keeping up speeds in the dark massive light output is essential. Sometimes I run out of light range with my L&M ARC in the winter. It doesn't take much of a dowhill and I have to slow down. I'll keep running it til it dies and then consider options.

Yeah, the Cateyes are very much not up to the task that the OP is talking about. I wouldn't go more than 10 MPH at most with both of those lights on steady, if they were all the light I had to ride by. We're talking about riding in areas where your light is the only light there is; no street lights, no houses, no traffic. Pitch dark.

I've tried riding with little piddly things like the EL-320; pass.

what about these lights on sale at jensenusa? Night rider mini newt, usb recharge, 110 lumens and 3 hours run time?

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...+Usb+2010.aspx

No friggin' way.

Seriously folks, you gotta stop looking at these bike-specific lights and actually read the flashlight reviews on this forum.

FENIX or Terralux AAs for 220 lumens x 1 hr, run on medium for 2-3 hrs. $5 lockblock. 110 lumen is barely enough for me to RUN with at 9-10mph, let alone bike. At 10mph on a pitch black road with no car traffic washing your vision out, ok, 110 lumens is enough. But with any competing headlights, it's woefully inadequate.

You can definitely commute on paved roads that aren't a mess at 15-20mph with 2 of these LED lights, and likely even one of them although you'll definitely want MagicShine power at 15+mph.

Remember that these LED flashlights have perhaps the most energy efficient LEDs you can get now. If a bikelight says it'll run for 3 hrs, it's either gotta have a big battery pack to match, or it's going to be a lot dimmer than these flashlights. You will NOT find a bike light that will light like the Fenix/Terralux for 3 hrs on 2 x AAs at 200 lumens.

Actually that's not a bad light, IMO, though I'd absolutely spring another $20 for the Magicshine and get about 3 times more light. I run a P7 flashlight as a backup and have it on the bars at all times, but I use a MagicShine as my primary light. I would run the P7 happily if it were the only choice, but IMO the MagicShine wins out on a couple of points. One, it shares a single battery with the MagicShine taillight so I only have to worry about charging one battery; before this I had a Dinotte taillight and I had to take the damned battery off every 2 days and charge the AA cells.

Second, I have an aftermarket 8 cell pack that has 6 hours of runtime, about 5.5 with the taillight, which means that I can run all week on a charge, running the lights 45 minutes in the morning and the taillight only 45 minutes in the afternoon.

If I had to worry about theft and had to take the light off every time I parked, I would absolutely go with a flashlight up front and probably a Dinotte self-contained (the new one) taillight or more probably just a RADBOT on the back. But since I don't have to worry about that, I just permanently mount the two. For about $110, I don't think you can possibly beat the MS head/tail light combo.

Do you need the charger they show on their site for the batteries? Or can you use any charger for AA size you already have? Budget is tight.
Does Geoman provide a warranty or support better than dealextreme? I see folks complaining of breakage after 6-8 months and for the price I think that's unacceptable. I'd expect 2 years minimum for $100 lights

I'm interested in the Magicshine front and rear combo but also like the ability to have a USB charger like seen on the mini-newt.

I use the Fenix LD20 and it is probably the best light you can get for $60. It uses 2xAA batteries and they can be either Li-Ion, Ni-Mh or Alkaline; also accepts rechargeable batteries of these types. The fact that you can use three types of common AA batteries is what really sold me on this light. You can purchase quite a few accessories for it as well. I have the older LD20 that outputs 180 lumens max; the newer LD20 outputs 205 which isn't really a noticeable difference. The only complaint I've heard from the new LD20(R4) is that the throw and beam isn't quite as good as the older model. I use a velcro strap to mount my LD20 to my helmet. You may also consider buying a TwoFish Bike Block or Lock Block to mount the LD20 or any other flashlight to your helmet or handlebars. TwoFish Lock Blocks and Bike Blocks can be purchased on Amazon or other online stores. One of my favourite accessories for the LD20 is the white diffuser tip which can be attached to the light to create an aura of visibility around your biking area. It's a pretty cool effect. More info about the Fenix LD20 and it's accessories can be found here: http://www.fenixtactical.com/fenix-ld20.html

I used to ride with a 200 lumen light. It may be enough for many people but it wasn't enough for me and my route. A P7 flashlight on medium is about 200 to 250 I'd guess, and I do use that on some parts of my ride, but on others I kick it up to high which is probably 400 or so.

These days I just ride with my Magicshine on high all the time, then I don't have to worry about it. I tip it down a bit when I get to areas where there is much oncoming traffic, but in rural areas where I'm on gravel and have to see a long way ahead to avoid massive herds of potholes but still want to do 20+ MPH, I aim it fairly far out.

With a 200 lumen light, I had to slow down. My ride is already long enough.

No one seems to be addressing how these cheap lights get expensive by having to buy new AA batteries all the time. Based off of how much I ride I would be going through 2 batteries a day, five days a week. That is 10 batteries a week for ~6 months. 260 batteries = roughly $130. That ain't so cheap any more. My Niterider 350 lumen light gives me more lumens, greater run time and ends up being cheaper than the flashlight in the long run.